A 16-YEAR-OLD Dublin boy who was twice caught dealing crack cocaine has forfeited €600 to the State.

The teenager was put on supervised probation for six months in May after he pleaded guilty at the Children's Court to possessing drugs for sale or supply in Ballymun in north Dublin, on dates in January this year and in December 2011.

He appeared again today for the court to address the issue of what to do with his drug earnings.

Judge Conal Gibbons made an order that the €600 was to be forfeited to the State. The boy, who was accompanied to the hearing by his father, was also ordered to appear again in connection to a separate drug possession charge to which he has not yet entered a plea.

The teenager had been spared a custodial sentence in May and was ordered as a condition of his probation to attend addiction counselling, to continue taking part in a training course and not to commit any further crimes.

The boy, who has no prior criminal convictions, was found with four deals of crack cocaine on each occasion – the total value of which was €320. He was also found with €20 worth of cannabis.

He also had €600 in cash on him and admitted to gardai that the money came from drug dealing. The court had also heard that the boy was trying to overcome a drug problem.

Last year, he had also been spared a criminal conviction after he took part in a crime diversion programme. This came after he admitted in court that he made a petrol bomb for a “buzz” during an attack on a 78-year-old woman's home in Ballymun in March 2010, when he was aged 14.